what about landrace beans?

Hi, I have some questions I'd love you to choose from.  
1.   What are your thoughts on mixing multiple varieties to create a landrace variety?  

2.  Which bean besides adzuki/red bean would be the best to use in desserts?  

3. Which bean has the most protein and/or yield so as to grow the most amount of calories and nutrition in as small of a space as possible.

4.  Is there a heritage bean besides soy that is a complete protein?  

5. I don't know if this is up your alley, but I would love to learn more about inoculating beans.  Is there a way to grow my own?  Is it better to coat the seed or sprinkle the seed bed? Is there a benefit to using purchased vs what is in native soils?  

Thank you for your time!
~Honey

I love landrace beans. They are the most productive beans that I grow. That is because for many generations, their ancestors have been the most productive beans that I grow, and the unproductive beans have died out. Also, because they are grown landrace-style, natural hybrids are occurring. The productivity of the natural hybrids far surpasses the productivity of the inbreeding heirlooms.

I only allow natural inoculation in my fields, with naturally occurring microbes. I don't have any tolerance for people that are trying to sell me something that I observe to be ubiquitous in nature.

Common beans are 5 times more productive in my fields than Tepary.

Tepary is much more productive for me than Runner Beans, or Cowpeas.

Adzuki and Soy don't even produce as many seeds as went into the ground.

Results may vary in different ecosystems and with different gardeners.

Peas are very productive for me, but I don't grow them for food, because a pea weevil infests my fields.

Honey beans, honey!  If there is a west African community where you live you can find these. I have to say I do not find them “sweet,” so much as just mild-flavored. In our supermarkets they sell bags of honey bean flour. You can use it for a fritter batter, or replace some portion of the wheat flour in other baked goods with the bean flour.

Here is a link to some products: Honey beans from afrofoods

Mk Neal wrote:Honey beans, honey!  If there is a west African community where you live you can find these. I have to say I do not find them “sweet,” so much as just mild-flavored. In our supermarkets they sell bags of honey bean flour. You can use it for a fritter batter, or replace some portion of the wheat flour in other baked goods with the bean flour.

Here is a link to some products: Honey beans from afrofoods

For the name alone I must order some!  Thank you as I've never heard of them!
Do you know if they will grow from the beans you receive?  Fav recipe you can recommend with them?

~Honey

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I love landrace beans.......

Adzuki and Soy don't even produce as many seeds as went into the ground.
...

I was only able to get a few bags of adzuki this fall ad was thinking of growing some.  I'll stick with my staples.  :)

Thank you!
~Honey

Honey Rowland wrote: Hi, I have some questions I'd love you to choose from.  
1.   What are your thoughts on mixing multiple varieties to create a landrace variety?  

I love mixing up my beans into a landrace. I'm lucky to have lots of bumblebees so just by planting different ones together I get lots of crosses. I can't really tell a new cross from a segregation from an older one, so I don't bother with trying to keep track anymore.  

Honey Rowland wrote: 2.  Which bean besides adzuki/red bean would be the best to use in desserts?  

I've never heard of using beans in desserts. Sounds kind of yucky to me, but I'm open to new things.

Honey Rowland wrote: 3. Which bean has the most protein and/or yield so as to grow the most amount of calories and nutrition in as small of a space as possible.

I have no idea about which one(s) have higher protein. Generally, I find pole types more productive than bush types and often see some vines more productive than others. If you accumulate and plant lots of kinds the more productive ones (in your soil & climate) should soon reveal themselves.

Honey Rowland wrote: 4.  Is there a heritage bean besides soy that is a complete protein?  

That is new to me too, I don't know about the protein content. I grew soybeans for the first time last year with poor results. I suspect having their leaves completely stripped off by rabbits a couple of times effected production. Still I got a small harvest and will plant again this year.

Honey Rowland wrote: 5. I don't know if this is up your alley, but I would love to learn more about inoculating beans.  Is there a way to grow my own?  Is it better to coat the seed or sprinkle the seed bed? Is there a benefit to using purchased vs what is in native soils?  

I don't know about that, mostly I just plant and let nature take its course and it seems to work fine.

I see you are in Tennessee, not all that far from me in southern Indiana. My most productive crop is common beans but probably because I plant more of them. I think an equal amount of space planted with cowpeas would easily outproduce common beans. Lima beans are also highly productive here, especially the climbing types. I expect soybeans, better protected from rabbits, to be highly productive as well. Runner beans are pretty and the hummingbirds like the flowers but they don't produce much. Not really a bean I reckon but peanuts might do well for you in Tennesse as well. They are very productive here and I've never seen such large and numerous nitrogen nodules on any other plant. I've never grown adzuki or tepary beans.

Honey Rowland wrote:

For the name alone I must order some!  Thank you as I've never heard of them!
Do you know if they will grow from the beans you receive?  Fav recipe you can recommend with them?

~Honey

Mostly I use the flour, it is very good in fried things because it gets a nice crisp crust.  Last night I dredged chopped nopalitos in a mix of cornmeal and honey bean flour and pan fried.

With the high protein content, it acts as a good egg replacer in pancakes, waffles.  Replace 1/4 or so of the usual grain flour with bean flour. Or make crisp vegan crepes with bean flour batter.

For growing, you can order garden seed from : truelove seeds

I use Beefy Resilient beans for everything beany these days. It has a flavor that's 100% umami. In savory recipes, it really does taste like beef. In sweet recipes, it gives the dish a depth and richness, without altering the topnote flavors. Similar to what you'd get with adding whey or almond milk.

I'm working on developing a strain that can be machine harvested so it can be grown on a larger scale, but as far as I know, right now the only way they're sold is as garden seed.

Another reason I prefer this variety is that it's easier to digest. It's the only bean I know of that doesn't cause gas!

Hello, Honey.  Several different beans, including adzuki and mung, are commonly used in Asian desserts, either as a paste used to stuff steamed buns/mochi/glutinous rice, or whole in sweet soups or over shaved ice.  Try searching "Asian bean desserts" for ideas.  Have you tried black bean brownies?  They are flourless and have a rich, fudgy texture.  Chickpea peanut butter cookies?  Many recipes available on the internet.  Great way to get extra protein and fiber!

I haven’t ever cooked with honey beans, but if you type in “honey beans recipe” in Google, you get some delicious looking beans and fried plantains as the first suggestion, and there are others too! Also they look like black eyed peas, so I am guessing you could cook them and eat with rice and a nice West African sauce (tomato based with or without beef/lamb/goat). You also cook beans with potassium, per my sister-in-law’s advice, so they give you less gas.

For a nice West African sauce you would start with chopped onions which you would sauté in canola or olive oil (or whatever oil.. peanut or palm oil could be fine too). Then add minced garlic, curry powder, paprika and once that’s cooked (~1min), add chopped fresh tomatoes and your meat. Usually for black eyed peas and rice (benga) we use beef, but goat might be fine, or maybe lamb. Then you would add water (not a ton, it’s going to be a sauce, not a soup) and tomato paste. Flavor with bouillon or salt and your other favorite seasonings. Cook until the meat is tender, adding water as needed if it evaporates. It’s soooo good with the rice and beans that I tend to overeat when we make it.

Gina Capri wrote: You also cook beans with potassium, per my sister-in-law’s advice, so they give you less gas.

Sounds really tasty, Gina! What form of potassium does your sister-in-law recommend ?

Also, I like to allow my beans to just barely sprout before cooking, as I understand this converts some of the unedible sugars into edible forms. It's the oligosaccharides causing gas, because we lack the enzyme to digest them.

Searching around just now I did find a number of articles with suggestions for increasing digestibility, including soaking at least 48 hours, slow cooking and cooking with Kombu (a seaweed available in dried form). Personally, I'm concerned about where the Kombu is farmed, as some of the seaweed farms in Japan were bathed in the radioactive water dumped from Fukushima, and still leaking into the sea to this day.

As I posted somewhere else here, I now freeze my soaked beans before cooking them to save cooking time and fuel (and thus CO2). I haven't really compared the 'fart-factor' on this strategy, but I do sprout them before freezing.

I'm sure there's a lot more to this than I know, so please, if anyone has more information, chime in!

You can make a very convincing mock pecan pie from pinto beans. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mock-pecan-pie/

Haven't had a lot of luck growing beans here in the desert, but I keep trying and am hoping that the continually improving soil will eventually produce more than a handful.

Erik van Lennep wrote:

Searching around just now I did find a number of articles with suggestions for increasing digestibility, including soaking at least 48 hours, slow cooking and cooking with Kombu (a seaweed available in dried form). Personally, I'm concerned about where the Kombu is farmed, as some of the seaweed farms in Japan were bathed in the radioactive water dumped from Fukushima, and still leaking into the sea to this day.

As I posted somewhere else here, I now freeze my soaked beans before cooking them to save cooking time and fuel (and thus CO2). I haven't really compared the 'fart-factor' on this strategy, but I do sprout them before freezing.

I'm sure there's a lot more to this than I know, so please, if anyone has more information, chime in!

I’m not sure if they ship to Europe, but if you are looking for non Japanese source of kombu, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables is a U.S company sustainably harvesting kelp from North Atlantic waters.

Mk Neal wrote:

I’m not sure if they ship to Europe, but if you are looking for non Japanese source of kombu, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables is a U.S company sustainably harvesting kelp from North Atlantic waters.

Thanks for the tip. I imagine there will be shipping and import costs that make it unaffordable, but I'll check them out in case they have a European distributor.

I would love a few recipes!  Love savory and love using beans to extend meats.  <3

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:I use Beefy Resilient beans for everything beany these days. It has a flavor that's 100% umami. In savory recipes, it really does taste like beef. In sweet recipes, it gives the dish a depth and richness, without altering the topnote flavors. Similar to what you'd get with adding whey or almond milk.

I'm working on developing a strain that can be machine harvested so it can be grown on a larger scale, but as far as I know, right now the only way they're sold is as garden seed.

Another reason I prefer this variety is that it's easier to digest. It's the only bean I know of that doesn't cause gas!

Debbie Ang wrote:Hello, Honey.  Several different beans, including adzuki and mung, are commonly used in Asian desserts, either as a paste used to stuff steamed buns/mochi/glutinous rice, or whole in sweet soups or over shaved ice.  Try searching "Asian bean desserts" for ideas.  Have you tried black bean brownies?  They are flourless and have a rich, fudgy texture.  Chickpea peanut butter cookies?  Many recipes available on the internet.  Great way to get extra protein and fiber!

We are BIG aduzki fans here!  I buy them in 50lb bags.  My college roommates were Japanese and Chinese and I got sooo many yums that year.  Never thought dry squid would be delicious but...dude...delicious!  

I plant mung beans and the kids and i will just eat the pods.  We don't get any to last to dry but they're sooo sweet.  We just pick them walking through the yard.  We prefer mung beans fresh and in the pod over cooking with them due to the sweet flavor.

I have not make chickpea pb cookies but until a few years ago we were vegan.  I'd been vegetarian for 22 years, vegan for 12 and then back to vegetarian for a few years while switching to a more traditional diet that helped our son who is highly functioning autistic.  But, I added beans, pumpkin and sweet potato to anything and everything to get additional nutrients into the kids.  I added a can of pumpkin or sweet tater to everything from sauce to soups and stews and the beans were either whirled, blended or smooshed.  I used northern beans though so I'd love your black bean and chickpea recipes if you are willing to share.  I did use black beans mixed with carob and would mix it into double chocolate chocolate chip cookies when the kids were little.   We just do simple cakes more now and less cookies as it seems so expensive for the chips and carob anymore.

Gina Capri wrote:I haven’t ever cooked with honey beans, but if you type in “honey beans recipe” in Google, you get some delicious looking beans and fried plantains as the first suggestion, and there are others too! Also they look like black eyed peas, so I am guessing you could cook them and eat with rice and a nice West African sauce (tomato based with or without beef/lamb/goat). You also cook beans with potassium, per my sister-in-law’s advice, so they give you less gas.

For a nice West African sauce you would start with chopped onions which you would sauté in canola or olive oil (or whatever oil.. peanut or palm oil could be fine too). Then add minced garlic, curry powder, paprika and once that’s cooked (~1min), add chopped fresh tomatoes and your meat. Usually for black eyed peas and rice (benga) we use beef, but goat might be fine, or maybe lamb. Then you would add water (not a ton, it’s going to be a sauce, not a soup) and tomato paste. Flavor with bouillon or salt and your other favorite seasonings. Cook until the meat is tender, adding water as needed if it evaporates. It’s soooo good with the rice and beans that I tend to overeat when we make it.

I need to eat dinner before reading this stuff.  It was like reading food porn.  My mouth is watering now.

Erik van Lennep wrote:

Gina Capri wrote: You also cook beans with potassium, per my sister-in-law’s advice, so they give you less gas.

I'm sure there's a lot more to this than I know, so please, if anyone has more information, chime in!

I always add some ginger slices to the soaking water.  Works really well!

but peanuts might do well for you in Tennessee as well. They are very productive here and I've never seen such large and numerous nitrogen nodules on any other plant.

If you decide to grow some peanuts the University of Tennessee recommends TN Red Valencia. Apparently no other kind will thrive in that soil. They grew great for me there. So did black eyed peas as well as most beans.